Neal Stephenson is a New York Times number one bestselling author of some of the most visionary science fiction novels of the last three decades. Known for originating the term “metaverse” in his 1992 novel “Snow Crash” and anticipating the rise of blockchain in his 1995 book, “The Diamond Age,” he is one of the best-known speculative fiction writers of our time. Neal is currently co-founder and chairman of LAMINA1, a Layer 1 blockchain built for the open metaverse. Previously, he was Chief Futurist at Magic Leap and was a member of Blue Origin’s original technical staff.